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With no power, Yorkers found ways to cope

By GREG GROSS

505-5433/@ydcrime

Posted:
02/10/2014 01:25:52 AM EST

Updated:
02/10/2014 10:02:37 AM EST

Penelec linesman Dave Jackson is thanked by diners Dottie Carbaugh, Larry Hughes and Dale and Barb Forry during breakfast at Lyndon Diner Monday. The work crew has been in York County helping restore power since Wednesday. (Bill Kalina)

Like most people without power in York County, Carolyn Mathur spent the better part of last week cold and in the dark.

"It was really horrendous," she said Sunday, a day after electricity to her Spring Garden Township home was restored. "It got so cold in the house I actually felt sick."

To cope with the loss of power, which went out Wednesday, Mathur and partner Scott Souders wore extra clothing and huddled by a fireplace for some warmth in the Niles Road home they share. Light came from the fire and flashlights, she said.

"It was nice and quiet sitting around the fireplace and talking," she said.

While some people in York County sought refuge at area hotels, Mathur and Souders stuck it out in their home, where temperature dipped to as low as 40.

Mathur was one of roughly 53,000 Met-Ed customers in the county who lost power in the wake of an ice storm that hit early Wednesday morning.

Coming back on: An additional 1,700 customers of PPL in the county had their lights go out during the storm. Power to all those customers has been restored, according to the company's website.

As of Monday morning, all but 27 Met-Ed customers had power restored, its website reported.

"That's a heck of a job they (line workers) did," said Chris Eck, a company spokesman.

However, 844 PECO customers, all in southern York County, remained without power Monday morning, according to that company's website.

Electric companies have been calling in crews from other areas to work in York, which was among the counties hardest hit by the storm. About 1,300 employees from other states - such as Missouri and Ohio - were called in to help local Met-Ed crews. They used the York Expo Center as a staging area.

The out-of-state crews remained in York County Sunday, but it was unclear how long they'd be needed here, Eck said.

"When there are no more ... jobs, they'll be released. "We'll have ample crews to do the job."

Mathur said a crew from New Jersey restored power to her home.

More than 19,000 utility customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania remained in the dark Monday morning, according to the Associated Press,.

The number of customers without power has dropped from a peak of about 850,000 after Wednesday's storm.

Temperatures are dipping back into the single digits again this week, and the National Weather Service is expecting more snow Wednesday night into Thursday. Meteorologist Elyse Colbert said it's too early to predict accumulation.

Like the Amish: When the power went out at Amanda Testerman's Delta home, she and her husband got a taste of what life is like for their landlords.

"We rent from Amish, and they were joking with us about living their lifestyle," she said.

Testerman said the power went out Wednesday and was restored Sunday. The Testermans used a wood stove for heat and cooked on a gas stove.

To pass the time, she said, she read a lot.

Unprepared: Mathurs said she and Souders got a slight reprieve from the cold when they bought a generator - the last one at the store, they were told - on Thursday.

They used it to power a small heater, some lights and their computers, she said.

"It felt like we were living in a caveman situation," she said.

Julie Kay Tate, of Springettsbury Township, said her children played board games to occupy the time and took turns washing dishes with the dishwasher out of commission.

"We are so thankful for electricity, and for the (crews that) worked so hard to get the live wires off the ground and new pole with a new transformer back up where it belongs," she said.

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